Possibly the hectic release schedule will slow down sometime, after all there are other things in life -- I want to go off fossicking soon (gemstones, gold).

Heh, heh, it is finally happening. I have bought myself a cheapie metal detector:

link removed, on request from dealsdirect.com

...they offered buy all you want for $10 total postage & handling, so I got a few other camping items as well.

The "outback" of Western Australia has a lot of iron in the ground, making gold detecting very difficult. It is possible to spend a lot of money, for example the top-of-the-range gold detector here in Australia is the Minelab GPX 5000, with rrp of AU$6,595 (about the same in US$):
http://www.minelab.com/aus/products/gold-detectors/gpx-5000

I just enjoy being in nature, finding interesting rocks, plus it is healthy exercise, so I will be quite happy fossicking around with an ultra-cheapie detector. My $79 detector has the controls that I think are needed for detecting in the goldfields -- two discrimination modes, ground balance, plus various other dials, switches and buttons to play with. I have assembled it, and it looks quite well made. Hopefully the internal electronics is "up to it".

Posted on 28 Mar 2013, 19:11

Comments:

Posted on 13 Dec 2011, 19:07 by aarfthe outbackit dangerously hot dry and dusty out there, its got poisonous snakes and man eating crocodiles and rabid kangaroos that attack people not to mentions wild camels and emus, cassowaries that will rip you innards out with their gigantic toes. cannibal tribal aborigines and worst of all uncouth geologist working for conglomerate strip miners..

Posted on 13 Dec 2011, 20:39 by maxerroand a tetanus shot?Test the detector in your backyard first. Maybe it "sees gold" everywhere, so you don't have to drag the thing around...

Posted on 14 Dec 2011, 2:32 by pemasulost and foundYou could open lost and found webpages with pics of items you find from wilderness. Probably you will find interesting lost items.

We used to clean 35 km highway (both sides) green areas every spring with our ski club. The things we find are interesting. CD`s, stolen wallets, hundreds or spirit bottles (we are in Finland), a lot of used drugs folios, etc... The whole pic of what ppl do in their cars when they throw their trashes to the green areas.

Posted on 14 Dec 2011, 2:52 by DougalFOSSickingMayhap the best place to go fossicking for gold will be Perth beaches...

But, yeah, it's a good way to get you out and about a bit -- always a good thing. This week I've been, hmm, fossicking, for mushrooms...

Posted on 14 Dec 2011, 8:20 by scsijontesting firstIf your not too far from your local assay office or know someone with some gold (not dust) you can allign your detector before you try in the field. Mine I marked on the ring around the knobs with a perminant marker the 'best' reading settings, you need to mark at least two points as 200mm will have a different oscillation index to 50mm. It saved having to fiddle each time I unloaded it from the ute.
It would actually be interesting if it worked that deep, especially with ironstone and the like around. ?What is the inner diameter of the head coil, as half that is usually the recorded depth, not the outer diameter. We use to make them in our spare time back in the early 70's as we had both pc design labs and coil winders available, used the equipment when we had maintenance cycles to do, meant just about everyone in the workshop had one each and could have fun just for the price of the few components needed to buy.

Posted on 14 Dec 2011, 8:40 by scsijonunderwater 200mmJust looked at the item, it's 200mm underwater, a totally different medium being water and sand, but would be good for the beach at high tide in the shallows.

however, it's not bad for the price

And as long as it's truly 3 freq on at all time and not a select between two of three as most are you should get at least 75mm depth below search coil

You just have to learn how to keep it down, almost touching the ground and parallel to the surface (not easy).

One tip i'll give you is to make yourself a harness to go across your body and the opposite shoulder and wrap back to the detector's handle, you'll be supprised how heavy these things get after an hour or two.

Also don't forget to have your Current Miners Licence with you, without one anything found can't be sold, and if your found with some on you and no licence the inspectors are required to confiscate it, all your gear, and you get fined on top of that.

It operates at 6.6KHz, whereas mine operates at 15KHz -- I wonder what difference that makes? I am familiar with gold detectors back in the 80's, Garrett for example, that operate at 15KHz, some were switchable.

Posted on 16 Dec 2011, 6:03 by scsijondeeperlower operating frequency the better the penetration and separation of different materials, especially with iron in the soil, sorry.

your miners licence is a yearly thing, like taxes.

If your going into the Mines Office, they may have a sampling spot to tune your frequencies in.

and merry christmas and a happy new year to you and your families

Posted on 20 Dec 2011, 11:12 by PaulBx1Oh boy,"Also don't forget to have your Current Miners Licence with you, without one anything found can't be sold, and if your found with some on you and no licence the inspectors are required to confiscate it, all your gear, and you get fined on top of that."

Ugh. The ever-helpful state. Full employment service for bullies.

I had a friend who had an itch to get a detector and go look for meteorites in Eastern Oregon. I always enjoy going over there. I won't be getting any permit though.

Posted on 20 Dec 2011, 12:56 by 01mickonear Romayep.. rednecks.. at least you get a warning..
(I took this recently 55km north of Roma, Qld, could be elsewhere too)

Posted on 20 Dec 2011, 20:02 by BarryKMiner's RightI went to the Registry office, but was told that here in Western Australia, a Miner's Right lasts forever. They printed a copy of my licence taken out in 1985, no charge.